The father of the child still missing after a fatal landslide at St. Paul’s Lilydale Regional Park said his son had been looking forward to the field trip Thursday.

“He came to me and said, ‘You know we have a field trip tomorrow? I’m so happy,'” said Lancine Fofana, who last saw his son Zack Mohamed Fofana, 10, when he and his wife put him on the school bus Wednesday morning.

The search resumed about 11 a.m. Thursday for the boy, who his father referred to as Mohamed. He is thought to have been buried while he and three classmates were on a school field trip to look for fossils near Pickerel Lake on St. Paul’s West Side.

Mohamed Bah, the boy’s uncle, said Thursday morning that he hopes his nephew “will come out of that place alive.” He pointed to disasters around the world where people are found alive in holes after two weeks.

One child has been confirmed killed in the landslide. Another who was buried waist-deep in the landslide remains in serious condition at Regions Hospital. A third child was treated for an ankle injury and released from the hospital.

Mohamed’s family was gathering in an area near the park Thursday morning and has been praying, Bah said.

“We believe that everything happens the way God wants it to happen,” Bah said. “Whatever the outcome may be, we accept it.”

Bah said his nephew is “a very nice, young little fellow, promising, he’s friendly. … He’s a very, very good boy.”

Another of Mohamed’s uncles said it’s hard to describe what the family is feeling as they wait for word on the boy. Though they have faith he’ll be found, the family is gripped by terror.

“But we have our hopes in God and we believe he will be rescued,” said Frank Ngafua.

Police and firefighters worked with state geologists Thursday morning to make sure the area was safe before resuming the search, which is now being called a recovery.

“We feel we were able to save the kids who could be saved,” said Steve Zaccard, St. Paul fire marshal, on Thursday morning.

Wet, sandy soil conditions around the collapse site — at the bottom of a 30-foot cliff — make it dangerous.

“This is going to be a very, very slow operation from now on,” Zaccard said.

Searchers from Minnesota Task Force 1, a special multiagency rescue team, will use ropes and harnesses to get access to the site.

Police spokesman Howie Padilla said searchers on the scene have determined that it is unlikely the pathway gave way beneath the four students, all fourth-graders from Peter Hobart Elementary School in St. Louis Park.

“Something collapsed as the children were walking — we believe there was some kind of slide or something that collapsed above them,” Padilla said.

Geologists say heavy rain and loose soil made conditions ripe for the landslide, but that the timing and location of the collapse were nearly impossible to predict.

Fofana said his son has attended Peter Hobart Elementary School since first grade. Fofana also has twin boys in third grade at the school and a son in college.

He said the elementary school is full of wonderful people and Mohamed’s teacher “treats me like a family member.”

Thursday morning, the father said he wasn’t upset with the school for going on the ill-fated field trip.

“Anything can happen. This is like an accident,” he said.

He said he didn’t know the other three children involved in the accident and hasn’t talked to their parents yet.

Fofana said he was at work for SuperValu when he got a call at about 2:15 p.m. Wednesday from the principal of Hobart.

“She told me there was a landslide,” he said.

Fofana went home to Minneapolis, picked up his wife and arrived at the park midafternoon. Other than a 10-hour break overnight, they’ve been at the scene since.

He has yet to see the site where his son is presumed buried, he said.

“They say it’s not safe,” he said.

His hope now?

“That they find him,” he said. “That they might find him.”

Mara H. Gottfried, John Brewer and Marino Eccher contributed to this report.

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